Monkey Bunky and the pea pod bond
by AnnieXMuller
Summary: "We have to question everything we think we know." Target speculation fic. Could be a missing scene if you squint.


**This is pure speculation based off the few spoilers I've allowed myself to read for the upcoming two-parter _Target_ and _Hunt. _DO NOT read this if you have not seen the promo.  
**

* * *

The stairs would have been faster. Two at a time, she could have sprinted up, the floors going by in a grey concrete and steel blur. Instead, Kate stands, almost motionless, in the empty elevator cab. Her back against the wall, hands curled up into tight balls, her fists are pressed hard against her thighs. With eyes cast down, she stares at the smooth, polished floor while the elevator creeps up the levels. Her heart pounds in her chest, wild and erratic, hammering against her ribs. She licks her dry lips, and the air in the elevator taste stale, feels too thick. She has to force her lungs to inhale, exhale, and remind herself to repeat the action.

All day she had been at Castle's side, until she had been forced away, for thirty minutes, the longest half hour of her life. He had nodded, assured with a hardened glaze he would be fine.

But he wasn't.

His little girl... taken. Lost. Alexis had been kidnapped.

He might never be fine again.

She bursts out into the bullpen, catching her elbow on the doors as they open. She hisses softly in pain, cradling her elbow in her palm, no hesitation in her gait as she pushes forward.

She scans the crowd near her desk, moves her eyes on from the unfamiliar faces while she searches for his.

"Where's Castle?" She fires the question at Ryan, stopping at his desk, eyes still searching, elbow still clutched in her hand.

"Gates sent him home," he replies, his tone low.

Her head snaps back, her eyes boring into him as she drops her elbow, balls her hands into fists at her sides. "What?" She asks, anger surging through her. "Why?"

"He wasn't thinkin' straight. You should've seen him, Beckett. He was falling apart." Movement distracts him, and he turns from her.

_If this case goes south he'll never think straight again_, the words bouncing around her brain, ricocheting from one side of her skull to the other, a memory from a case from so long ago...

Ryan clears his throat, tilts his head to direct her attention to where Gates stands in the doorway to her office, hands on hips, eyes burning into Beckett. She blinks away the memories, and meets the captain's eyes.

"My office, Detective Beckett. Now."

"You sent him home?" She restrains some of her fury, keeping from spitting the words out at her superior - but only just - as she bridges the distance in long strides.

"I did." Gates ushers Beckett into her office, closing the door softly behind her. "And I'm sending you home too," she announces as she moves around her desk.

Kate gapes at Gates, raking a hand through her hair as frustration builds within her. "Sir-"

"No," Gates interrupts. "Beckett, Castle needs to be with his family right now."

She realizes then that she has been included in that. Her features soften, just slightly, her heart constricting in her chest. "I need to be here, I need to work," she argues. _I need to find Alexis._

"The F.B.I have it under control," Gates assures her. "You know where you need to be."

She sees it, in Gates' eyes, hears it in her voice. "How long have you known?" She asks, resigned, the fight gone.

"About what exactly, Detective?"

Kate sighs. She holds the captain's unwavering gaze for a moment longer, the woman lifting an eyebrow as her patience dwindles. "Castle and I. Our relationship."

"You mean the fact that you're in one, together?"

"Yes, Sir," she replies.

"Oh I'd say since the first time I saw you interact."

Kate blinks at that, taken aback by the revelation. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm not blind, Detective, but you've always worked well together, you've kept it from becoming a problem, so I chose to let it slide."

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome. Now," she says, more firmly, "Go to him. He's going to need your support right now."

"Yes, Sir." She doesn't argue further. Turning, she exits the office and manages to give Ryan a small smile as she approaches.

"Been dismissed?" Ryan asks.

Kate nods. "Sent home to go be with my _boyfriend_." She imitates Ryan as she says the word, and his mouth drops open.

"She knows?" He asks after he has closed his mouth, licked his lips, regained enough composure so not to squeak out the question.

"Since before he and I were even in a relationship, it seems."

Ryan quirks a smile at that.

"What?" she asks, confused by his amusement.

"Oh, nothing," he replies easily, and waves a hand to emphasis his words. He sobers then, and locks wide, worried eyes on hers. "Tell him we're all thinking of him. Tell him we're all..." He pauses, wrestles with the right word to use before just going with his first instinct. "We're all praying for Alexis."

She smiles kindly. "I will. Thank you."

The smile drops from her face, her lips forming a tight, straight line, as she approaches the elevator once more, to begin the quiet, slow descent. Her finger hovers in front of the button, before she turns, jogs to the fire-exit, to the stairs. Tugging the door open with more force than necessary, she begins running down, one step at a time, her hand clutching the rail for support, focusing on not faltering, not missing a step, focusing on getting to Castle.

* * *

Martha opens the door, and pulls her instantly in for a hug. "Oh, Martha," she says, staring out into the empty loft over the older woman's shoulder. "I'm so..." The sorry gets caught in her throat, the words sounding flippant in her head. No words feel enough right now. "I can't..."

"I know," Martha replies, pulling back.

It's the first time Kate's ever seen Martha's eye makeup less than perfect, dark uneven lines, smudged from tears, beneath red, tired eyes. "We'll find her," Kate whispers. "We won't rest."

Martha smiles sadly, squeezes her hand. "Thank you."

"Gates sent Castle home," she begins, glancing around. "Is he here?"

Martha nods, and silently redirects her eyes to the stairs. A soft, "Oh," leaves Kate's lips, and she squeezes Martha's hand gently before releasing it. Inhaling a deep breath, she silently makes her way up the stairs to Alexis' old bedroom. She stops just outside the open door, and finds him instantly. Sitting on his daughter's bed, he stares silently out the window, a teddy bear clutched to his chest - and her heart breaks all over again.

He catches her reflection in the window, and turns to her. "News?" He asks, his voice breaking.

"No," she replies softly.

He nods briefly, before his chin drops and he studies the bear in his hands. "My little girl..."

She can no longer stay hovering in the doorway. Pushing forward she moves to the bed, and sits next to him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she hugs him awkwardly from the side. He releases his hold on the bear and wraps the arm around her shoulder, holding her to him while she comforts him. She whispers words of comfort against his neck, her lips brushing his skin as she makes promises she prays she can keep, and she repeats them all, until the words fade away and she just holds him.

They remain silent, sides pressed together, and it isn't until she pulls back to meet his eyes that she sees his tear-stained cheeks. "Oh, Rick," she murmurs. Dropping her arms from around him, she brings both to cup his face, brushing her thumbs across his damp cheeks.

He blinks back tears at her use of his first name. His hands come up to cover hers, removes them gently from his face, and clasps her smaller hands between his, holding them against his chest. "I must look bad." He tries to joke, but his voice lacks the humor, his eyes lack the spark. He inhales a shaky breath, holds it, struggling to keep from breaking down completely before her. "I would have spent tonight here, alone," he admits. "In that chair." He nods to the small rocking-chair in the corner of the room. "Watching over an empty bed." The tears can't be suppressed any longer, and he has no choice but to allow them to fall freely. "What if.." But he can't finish that sentence.

Slipping a hand out from between his, she curls her fingers over his thigh and holds tight, anchoring him. "No," she warns, hushing him with one word. She stands, clasps his hand in hers and tugs gently. "Come."

He looks at her, all tear-stained cheeks and wide eyes, while he silently falls apart. "Where?"

"To bed. To sleep."

He drops his eyes to the stuffed brown bear and chuckles mirthlessly at her words. "Sleep." He says the word as if it's foreign to him, as though he is trying to decipher its meaning.

"A clear head, it's what we all need," she tells him gently. "Sleep, just for an hour or so." She tilts her head, her eyes pleading silently with him to yield to her, to his own exhaustion.

"Okay," he replies after a long pause, placing the stuffed animal on the bed beside him, propped against a pillow no head will be resting on tonight. He says nothing more but allows her to lead him out of the silent, empty bedroom, and down the stairs.

He drops her hand as his feet hit the ground floor, and he leaves her standing in front of the staircase. She watches silently as he joins Martha on the couch, hanging back as arms are wrapped around one another and tears are shed. She is gestured over by Martha, but she smiles politely and stays where she is, declining the offer.

"She's a resourceful one, our girl," Kate hears Martha remind Castle in a hushed tone. "She's alive, she's okay."

"How can you sound so sure?"

"The pea pod bond," the woman replies, as though the words must mean something to Castle. And clearly they do. He nods, repeats the words. Brushing a kiss to his mother's cheek, he stands, and turns to leave, but his mother's voice stops him.

"I'll be here," Martha tells him, her eyes flicking to Kate, speaking to them both. The phone sits on the table beside her. "I'll wake you if there's news."

Kate smiles gratefully at Martha, knowing should there be news her own phone will be the first to ring, but she understands the need to feel useful in a time like this. She clasps Castle's hand in hers once more and leads him to the bedroom.

"Pea pod bond?" She asks as they enter his room. "What's that?"

He stops just inside the door, closing it softly behind him. "Hope," he replies simply. "It's hope."

"Okay," she replies, letting him know with a small smile and a nod of her head that his answer is all the explanation she needs.

They strip quietly in the darkened bedroom, the lowering of zippers, the crinkling of fabric, uneven, broken breathing, the only sounds in the room. She slips under the blankets beside him, and molds her body to his, her head on his shoulder, her arm slung across his waist. He lays on his back, staring up at the dark ceiling, fidgeting with hands he doesn't seem to know what to do with.

She lifts her hand from his stomach, runs her fingers gently across his forehead, down his hairline, her fingertips sweeping across his damp cheek, soaking up the drying tears.  
They lay there, silent, until his eyes finally drift closed and his breathing evens out. She holds him until she knows for sure he has finally given into sleep, and then she waits just a little longer, until the movement of her body leaving his won't disturb him.

She slips away, steps carefully into her pants, easing a shirt over her head as she tip-toes from the room. She glides behind Martha's still form, seated on the couch still, fighting sleep, and holds her breath as she ascends the stairs. She pauses outside Alexis' old bedroom, before stepping into the empty room. Her eyes fall on the stuffed animal resting against the pillow, and it's only now that she realizes it's a monkey, not a bear. She traces a finger along a worn seam on the side, up and over its head where the fur has been rubbed bare. It looks like road kill, this monkey, faded and mended, and missing an eye. She picks it up carefully; she can feel the love squeezed into it by a little redheaded girl's protective arms, and cradles it gently as though the stitching might undo, like it might all come apart in her hands. She understand then who this is, if only she could recall its name. The monkey Castle spoke of, so many years ago now, the possession Alexis couldn't bear to be without as a child. Monkey... _She needs to remember, it seems so important right now that she knows the name... _Bunky. Monkey Bunky.

She sits down in the rocking chair in the corner of the room, and positions the monkey on her lap. "We have to question everything we think we know," she whispers into the empty room.

She doesn't care that this chair isn't designed for sleeping and that she'll spend the whole of the next day in pain. She doesn't care that she needs sleep just as much as he does, because she promised she wouldn't rest. So she stays awake, curled up in the old chair, rocking gently as her mind continues to work, as she starts from the beginning and runs through every piece of evidence, every conversation, every thought she has had since Alexis was taken. She needs to think now, needs to question everything, and press more pieces of the puzzle into place.

She stays there through the long dark night, keeping watch over the empty bed, her back aching, her neck stiff, her heart broken; the thread-bare stuffed monkey remains on her lap, clutched against her stomach. While every detail of the kidnapping reverberates in her head, she feels her shattered heart swell slightly - unexpectedly - in her chest. She's a part of this, the pea pod bond, it links her with Alexis, with Castle, with Martha, this gossamer thread of love - of family - that's growing stronger. It settles around her, calms her erratic heartbeat, reminds her how to breathe.

And, for the first time in twenty four hours, she feels a sliver of hope.

* * *

_Thoughts?_


End file.
